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Mayor Adams announces plans to tackle

NYC's overwhelming influx of migrants
following US-Mexico border visit
Jan 15, 2023, 9:47pm Updated 20h ago

By: News 12 Staff

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Mayor Eric Adams wrapped up a visit to El Paso, Texas and the U.S.-Mexico border
Sunday and announced the next steps in his plan to fight the growing number of
immigrants and asylum seekers in New York City.

Adams got a first-hand look at the border and conditions for migrants in Texas as he said
New York City saw record numbers of asylum seekers arrive here in the five boroughs
just last week. He said the influx is stretching the limits of the city's social services and
creating what he calls "a national crisis."

"Our cities are being undermined, and we don't deserve this, migrants don't deserve this,
and the people who live in the cities don't deserve this," Adams said.

According to Adams, over 26,000 immigrants are still in city care and it's getting more
difficult to ensure they have more than just a bed to sleep in, but also food, education,
health care and ways to get jobs and contribute themselves.

Adams said that while the cities around the country did not create this problem, they will
work to fix it. He is calling on his fellow mayors to team up and coordinate to find
solutions as long as the federal government then implements them, including picking up
the entire costs.

Similarly, Adams is also asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get
involved. He said FEMA should appoint a specific coordinator as a way to centralize the
response.

"We should not have to have a disjointed coordination. This is the job of FEMA. FEMA
should step up and coordinate this effort. This is a national problem. We must have real
immigrant reform and we must immediately have a short-term fix of making sure the
cost of this does not fall on our local cities," he added.

Adams said he will be in Washington D.C. later this week for the American Conference of
Mayors, where he hopes all the city leaders will be able to start those conversations
about ways they can work together on the issue.

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